I've made it to the end of another 8 weeks. I am still in awe of those that are doing this faster than one course at a time. I have appreciated my collaboration group which is primarily Shannon Frazier and Carl Dickerson. Carl Dickerson wasn't in my course this semester because he is farther along but he has continued to give feedback and assistance when called upon as I have gone along. Chantilly Sweet also offered some feedback for me this semester after my core group offered feedback that I wasn't sure about since it was an all-male perspective. I hope to work with her more as the semesters continue since she is working at the same pace as I am. I also have two other collaborators that are previous graduates from the DLL program. Regina Cobb and Julia Harryman. Obviously, I don't have any feedback to give them on course assignments but I do work with them and they will be a part of my disruptive innovation plan so the collaboration will be ongoing after I finish this program. It is very cool to have others that understand and have bought into the COVA method as colleagues. I have made myself available this semester for help and feedback and used all suggestions given for improvement. I think that more consistent collaboration in my group would be an improvement. Honestly, finding time to both get the assignments done, getting the feedback, making the changes and getting feedback again is hard. I do see the benefit of peers seeing your work and helping guide you. I consistently do this in the courses that I teach, specifically if it includes a creative process. I appreciate Shannon always responding with suggestions. I do believe we will have to find more collaborators for next semester so we get more of a breadth of opinion for both of us. I have had different folks in my groups each time because some are ahead not in the course or they dropped so that has also been difficult.
I have completed all the course readings, watched all the videos and looked at all the supporting resources. As previously mentioned in the semester summary, I do this to nauseum. I'm not sure if it is my age or just trying to grasp everything accurately, but the more I hear it or read it, the better I feel about everything. As Einstein once said, If you can't explain it simply that means you still don't know it well enough. I won't give up until it is my muscle memory to respond in a COVA way to my learners.
I am also an active contributor in the discussion board and I always circle back to look for the stragglers so that everyone will get feedback. I have been disappointed a few times by not getting feedback so I always try to at least weigh in. I also think that I could improve my weighing in that is supported by research. I always feel like I am saying the same thing that others have said so I hesitate to duplicate. I need work here for sure.
This semester the courses that I am teaching conflicted with the class meeting of 5303 so I had to watch the recordings. I know it is not the same but I wish everyone could see me interacting with the recording. Never mind, that would not be good. Regardless, all recordings were watched, some more than once. Typically, the questions I have are asked by someone else anyway. I haven't had to reach beyond my group to clarify anything.
Overall, I think I have done some strong work as a collaborator and participant in the course. The endless amount of resources are working well, the class discussions are awesome, the way the modules are set up are easy to follow. The deficits again for me are in the citing of works within the discussion and perhaps the size of my collaboration group. I hope to add members that are moving at the same pace so I am not seeking every semester for more people. I would score myself 89/100.
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